Community centre will be staying open

Campaigners are celebrating after Mirfield Community Centre wasgiven a reprieve by Kirkless Council to remain open.

It was announced this week that Kirklees Council had said the building can stay open, after original plans to sell the site were scrapped.

The Mirfield Community Trust has also claimed Kirklees are now looking into the possibility of an assett transfer, which would mean they would hand over ownership of the building to the people of Mirfield.

Campaigner and member of the trust Lisa Newby said: “We are not closing.

“Everyone at Mirfield Community Centre would like to thank you for the support over recent weeks.

“We are delighted to announce that Kirklees Council have confirmed that they will not be serving notice to terminate our management agreement and are now exploring our asset transfer request.”

Kirklees had said in a report that getting rid of the centre would save the authority £29,000 a year.

The centre, which has around 800 users a week, was set up 20 years ago with a £20,000 grant from Mirfield Town Council.

It now has a leaking roof and no central heating. During the winter, portable heaters had to be brought in to keep service users warm.

It was claimed at a Mirfield Town Council meeting earlier this year that it would cost around £30,000 to bring the building up to scratch.

However, the trust remains optimistic, with Lisa adding: “We will continue to remain open and look forward to continuing working with our user groups; their members and our community supporters. “We received almost 1,000 signatures both online and on our paper petitions and cannot thank everyone enough for their support.

“As we continue to work towards achieving the asset transfer we will update our community frequently.

“With lots of planned actions and events, the continued support of you all will be appreciated and we are very excited for the future.”

For more information on the community centre, visit www.gilderhall.co.uk